TheCable

Abike Dabiri-Erewa, senior special assistant to the president on foreign affairs and diaspora, has warned Nigerian migrants against travelling to Libya, saying the penalty, when caught, is death.

Dabiri-Erewa made the warning in a statement she issued on Monday, following the emergence of videos and photographs of Nigerians being killed in the North African country.

“The attention of the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora has been drawn to a video and pictures being circulated on the purported killing of black immigrants in Libya,” she said.

“While the authenticity of the pictures and tapes in question cannot be verified, it is a known fact that Libya has been executing alleged black illegal immigrants for years.

“As the Chairman Committee on Diaspora in the House of Representatives in the Seventh Assembly, we intervened in the case of 24 Nigerians about to be killed in Libya.”

She said the committee, in collaboration with Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), an NGO, petitioned the UN, AU, ECOWAS, and Ghadaffi yielded to pressure and released them.

“As at two months ago, NEMA, alongside the Nigerian Embassy in Libya, evacuated over 2000 Nigerians from Libya,” she said.

“The Nigerian embassy in Libya, working with NEMA, has relentlessly intervened in cases involving Nigerians in trouble in Libya and will continue to do so.

“Libyans are dealing with their own struggles as there is no recognised government in place.

“The office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora hereby appeals again to Nigerian migrants to avoid Libya as penalty for illegal migration to Libya, when caught, is usually a death sentence.”